Unification - Jeri Taylor [16]
There was a brief moment as Picard stepped forward, working to control the indignation that rose in him at being treated like this by a weaseling functio-nary. When he spoke, it was a voice that the bridge crew recognized: quiet but foreboding.
“Tell Gowron, Leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire, that his Arbiter of Succession, Jean-Luc Picard, needs a favor.”
“A favor?”
“1 require a cloaked vessel.”
A faint and condescending smile appeared on B’ijik’s lips. “A cloaked vessel. This is no small favor, Captain.”
“lt is for a mission that could have repercussions throughout the quadrant.”
“How would it benefit the Klingon Empire? I’m sure Gowron will ask.”
Picard had to take a long moment to control his temper. He longed to give this officious junior officer a tongue-lashing he would remember to his grave, but instead, he said quietly, “The only benefit to the Klingon Empire… would be our gratitude.”
B’ijik smirked. “That’s what you want me to tell Gowron?”
“Yes. And please add that if he is unable to provide a ship, I am sure there are others in the Klingon Empire who would be willing to help me. And then they would have—our gratitude.”
That simple statement hung in the air for a mo-ment. Picard knew he had scored, knew that B’ijik was running in his mind the list of Gowron’s enemies and had found it formidable. “I see,” he replied.
“Also please tell him that 1 am immensely gratified that he is prospering so well. It is a tribute to his skilled leadership.”
B’ijik made no reply to this, merely inclined his head, as though glad to be done with this conversation. His image disappeared and the starfield returned to view. Picard turned around to see Riker had come on the bridge and was listening to this interchange with amusement. “Nicely done,” he offered.
“We’ll see.” Adrenaline was coursing through Picard’s veinstoa pleasurable sensation. He enjoyed a challenge and liked getting a bit lathered up now and then. Good for the circulatory system.
Chapter Five
48
THE SENSATION IN his ear was peculiar: at first a chilling sensation as the interferometric scanner was turned on, and then a slight ringing in his ear—not painful, but somehow unsettling. He was relieved when the process was complete and a three-dimensional model of his ears had been registered in the computer.
He watched as Beverly Crusher turned to inspect Data’s ears. The elegantly beautiful doctor, with her porcelain skin and her strawberry red hair, was concentrating fiercely as she peered into the android’s ear canal. Data was obediently turning his head this way and that, at Doctor Crusher’s request.
They had been in sickbay for half an hour, discussing the necessary prosthetics that would be necessary to transform both him and Data into Romulans. He had every confidence in Beverly; she had accomplished these sophisticated conversions before.
“They aren’t removable, are they, Data?” he now heard Beverly ask.
“Removable, Doctor?” queried Data, uncertain as to her precise meaning. “Your ears.”
“No, Doctor. They are fully integrated components.”
Crusher turned to her assistant. “We’ll need molds of his ears, too.” The assistant turned to reconfigure the computer, and to scan Data’s ears. “What about his skin color?” Picard asked. Beverly eyed Data’s unique pale skin covering and considered for a moment. “We’ll have to do some tests with his pigmentation. Changing it to appear Romulan shouldn’t be too hard. I just want to be sure we can change it back again afterwards.”
Perhaps he wouldn’t mind changing skin color, thought Picard briefly, and then realized that Beverly was coming at him with yet another scanner, which she proceeded to point at his forehead. It was at that moment that he saw Will Riker enter sickbay and stifle a smile at the scrutinizing the captain was undergoing.
“Your right eye,” Beverly announced seriously, “is four thousandth higher than the left.” “It is not,” retorted Picard, and she grinned at him.
“You want a proper fit on your prosthesis? Trust your tailor.”
Picard saw Riker from the corner